630 STEVENSON— FORMATION OF COAL BEDS. [November 3, 



the case may be, marine deposits. Next comes a second forest layer, over- 

 laid by similar accumulations. It is the second forest bed, which is so fre- 

 quently exposed upon the present fore shores." 



In succeeding pages this author gives detailed evidence respect- 

 ing the stratigraphic relations of forest beds at the different localities. 



Passing from the Qnaternary to the Tertiary, one finds less fre- 

 quent notices of buried forests, owing, of course, to lack of expo- 

 sures. Lvell,'^" after describing the btiried cypress swamps of the 

 Mississippi delta, mentions the Tertiary deposits at Port Hudson, 

 which had been seen by Bartram and, at a later date, described by 

 Carpenter. Bartram observed that the erect cypress stumps seemed 

 to be rotted oft' at 2 or 3 feet above the spread of the roots and that 

 their trunks, limbs, etc., lie in all directions about them. When 

 Lyell visited the locality, the water was too high to permit study of 

 the lowest part of the section and he gave Carpenter's statements 

 respecting it. At the bottom of the bluff, is a buried cypress swamp, 

 containing sticks, leaves and fruits in horizontal laminse, with filmy 

 layers of clay interposed. With these are great numbers of erect 

 stumps of the large cypress, sending roots into the clay below. At 

 12 feet higher is a second deposit, 4 feet thick, consisting of logs and 

 branches, half converted into lignite, along with erect stumps. 

 Above this are more than 50 feet of clays, containing two layers of 

 vegetable matter. 



Hilgard^'*' gives some details respecting what is evidently the 

 lower Port Hudson bed as seen between that place and Fontania. 

 The section in the bluff is 



Feet. 



1. Yellow loam 8 to 10 



2. White and yellow hardpan 18 



3. Orange and yellow sand 8 to 15 



4. Greenish or bluish clay 7 



5. White silt or hardpan 18 



6. Green clay with calcareous and ferruginous concretions, 



sticks and leaf impresions 30 



7. Brown muck or blue clay with cypress stumps 3 to 4 



""C. Lyell, "A Second Visit to the United States," etc.. Vol. II., pp. 

 134, 178, 179, 180, 192, 272, 273. 



"' E. W. Hilgard, " On the Geology of Lower Louisiana," Smilhson. 

 Contrib. No. 248, 1872, pp. 5-7, 9, 11. 



228 



